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Not distinguishing subtitles when multiple characters are talking, or if there's a radio or TV in the background.

Coloring subtitles for each character based on their hair color.

Adding the episode title in fancy font to the beginning of the episode when it isn't shown until the end.

Adding the episode title to the file name.

And on poor grammar. Remember, using the wrong word spelled correctly is still wrong.
Examples of atrocities:
"form" instead of "from", "there" for "their", "they're" for "their", "freight" for "fright", and the worst offender "then" for "than".

There are a fair number of 3 year high schools in the US (K-6, 7-9, 10-12) ... so basically we're talking about provincial ignorance when viewers get confused on that one -- hard to respond to that other than "rest of the world ain't like your neighborhood, eh?"

As for general sorts of errors: sloppy grammar, insertion of profanity where none exists, insertion of own humor under the pretense of 'localizing', basic spelling errors, proverb/analogy failures - the list goes on.

The key thing to remember is who is speaking when choosing what type or intensity of curse. Belldandy won't be saying the f-word, but Sarugaki Hiyori(Bleach) or Keisuke(Initial D) might.

And as always, you don't have to use intense curse words if you don't want to. We try to avoid them and just stick to standard ones.

Requoted for great truth. If it isn't the way that sort of character would talk then it probably isn't projecting the spirit of the original intent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schneizel

So gangsters, ruffians and delinquents should talk like tame kawaii kittens because cuss words doesn't exist in the original dialog?

Fascinating In no way did I mention any of those three categories of characters. I'll occasionally see profanity used in fansubs when the speaker is unlikely to speak that way either because of their personality, character type, or situational context. But to be honest... if the original dialog didn't have it, there's not usually a reason to add it. Basically, such antics start trending towards "joke subs" or "What's Up, Tiger Lilly?" rewrites.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schneizel

It has nothing to do with speed, it has to do with how much serious effort the subbers are willing to put in.

Strangely, there's some correspondence between effort and time-to-release If you have to look up a proverb to properly characterize the translated dialog, that took you 3 or 4 more minutes than just thrashing out a grammatically correct but misleading literal translation. Obviously, the more knowledgeable and skilled subbers don't need to research or stew over such things quite as much.

Requoted for great truth. If it isn't the way that sort of character would talk then it probably isn't projecting the spirit of the original intent.

Fascinating In no way did I mention any of those three categories of characters. I'll occasionally see profanity used in fansubs when the speaker is unlikely to speak that way either because of their personality, character type, or situational context. But to be honest... if the original dialog didn't have it, there's not usually a reason to add it. Basically, such antics start trending towards "joke subs" or "What's Up, Tiger Lilly?" rewrites.

Well, there is a reason to add profanity if you're localising at times. But I take it you prefer literal over localised.

Well, there is a reason to add profanity if you're localising at times. But I take it you prefer literal over localised.

We're probably thinking of very different situations and it may have to do with experience. If localization means you're having university professors speak coarsely and with much slang in formal situations... that's not localization anymore. If you're characterizing a gangster who speaks quite rudely in Japanese, then profanity is dead-on-target. The debate would be over whether the choices were appropriate in context.

I see the word "localization" bandied about in ways on some channels/forums that don't really correspond to its meaning (unless we're going to include the 4Kids or Pokemon type of rewrite shenanigans).

The silly thing is that I wasn't even focused on profanity so much, it was more of a general note that translation/qc/edit sometimes suffers unless the team is willing to do the research to catch what would be obvious to a native speaker. Series that thrive on puns, humor, cultural references, etc need that extra care in particular.

I'm not exactly sure if some of you are just trolling or simply plain oblivious. It should be clear as daylight that certain characters would never use <insert swearing> while others will do it all the time. If you are using overly foul language that is out of character for the one saying it then you are simply doing it wrong.